Debt growth in Canada is slowing from the double-digit pace seen before the recession

And total borrowing, including mortgages, typically the biggest household loan, is slowing, major Canadian banks said recently in their quarterly reports.

The Bank of Canada’s trend-setting overnight lending rate is just 1 per cent. But with inflation running at 3.3 per cent, above the central bank’s ideal range, Carney is under pressure to start raising lending rates to dampen demand.

Total debt per consumer increased to $25,597 in the first three months of this year,

Among types of loans, TransUnion said credit card debt, usually the most expensive to carry, barely budged from a year ago, falling $25 to an average of $3,539.

In a sign some borrowers may already be struggling, the national credit card delinquency rate rose 11 per cent. The rate measures the ratio of consumers who take 90 days or more to pay their bill.

The average line of credit, the most popular loans for their low cost and high flexibility, rose 5.9 per cent to $33,762 compared to last year. However, total line of credit debt declined for the first time in five quarters.

One noticeable shift was the decreased use of lines of credit, Higgins said. The category is the largest among consumer loans, making up 41 per cent of the total, and even more in Ontario, at 57 per cent

The study found debt loads rose in all provinces, led by Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador. British Columbians had the highest load at $36,649.

Lines of credit are the most popular form of consumer debt, excluding mortgages, accounting for more than 41 per cent of outstanding debt at the end of the first quarter. Debt on lines of credit stood at an average $33,981, up 5.9 per cent from $31,867 in the first quarter of 2010.

RBC, TD, Scotiabank and BMO are also trimming interest rates on Saturday for a number of other residential mortgage products, including various special offers.

This latest round of mortgage rate cuts was prompted by falling yields on government bonds across a range of terms, said TD spokeswoman Barbara Timmins in an e-mail.

For instance, the yield on the five-year Government of Canada benchmark bond was 2.33 per cent on Thursday, down from 2.58 per cent on May 2 (the first business day of the month), according to data on the Bank of Canada’s website.

Banks usually try to match maturities when they use bonds to finance consumer mortgages. As a result, a five-year government bond would be matched up with a five-year consumer mortgage.

The national average home price has been skewed upward in recent months due to a surge in sales of multi-million dollar properties in the Greater Vancouver area.

“Changes to mortgage regulations that took effect in April 2011 likely sidelined a number of first-time homebuyers,” said Gregory Klump, CREA’s chief economist.

“By contrast, higher end home sales in Greater Vancouver and Toronto had their best April ever.”

sales were down 4.4. per cent from March of this year.

including Toronto, Vancouver and British Columbia’s Fraser Valley.

Government moves to tighten mortgage rules introduced last spring to reign in some buyers gave sales last year a boost, while a second round of changes introduced in March, ate into sales this April, CREA said.

“Last April, several transitory factors artificially boosted sales. This included the impending tightening of mortgage rules, speculation about higher interest rates and the looming introduction of the HST in some provinces,” said Klump.

The drop in sales of previously occupied homes last month reflected changes to mortgage rules that came in midway through March that reduced the maximum amortization period and pulled forward some sales that would have otherwise occurred later in the year.

The number of newly listed homes edged up 1.3 per cent in April from March, but remained well below levels in January and February, when the coming mortgage rule changes were announced.

In the key Toronto market, housing affordability measures rose by 0.8 per cent for a 1,200 square foot detached bungalow in the first quarter.

It now takes 47.5 per cent of household income to service the cost of mortgage payments, property taxes and utilities.

The average price of a bungalow in Toronto was $486,900 and the qualifying income needed to purchase was $103,000. But that is light years away from the Vancouver market, where an average 1,200 square foot bungalow is $736,000 with a qualifying income needed of $136,900.

Affordability levels are expected to get worse as interest rates get higher this year, said RBC, warning that Vancouver may be “dangerously disconnected from prevailing local housing demand fundamentals.

“The risk of a sustained and widespread drop will be limited given our expectation of a positive economic context that will sustain growth in household income and a gradual pace of interest rate policy normalization,” said Hogue. In Ontario, the market looks to be on a “sustainable path” although it is likely to face headwinds in the coming months arising from interest rate increases and a tightening in mortgage regulations, said RBC.